The Act of Union, British-Irish trade, and pre-Famine deindustrialization

Abstract

odern judgements on the effects of the Act of Union on the Manufacturing sector of Irish industry are influenced by two widely held propositions. The first is that the pre-Famine economy experienced deindustrialization. The second is that Irish manufacturing industries were unable to withstand competition from British producers. MacDonagh states that the creation of a free trade area within the British Isles 'perhaps ultimately determined the ruin of the Irish economy'.2 O'Malley argues that the introduction of free trade with Britain and the inability to impose tariffs was significant for Ireland's industrial decline.3 0 Grada is more sceptical about the impact of the Union, characterizing it as a lubricant rather than a prime mover of deindustrialization: 'industrial decline and rising food exports had a common origin: the dramatic industrial expansion taking place in Britain. The abolition of separate British and Irish customs duties and the assimilation of the two currencies could only accentuate trends that were evident earlier.'4 Similarly, Mokyr emphasizes the impact of a prosperous and industrializing Britain, rather than the freeing of trade, on Irish manufacturing industry: 'the industrial revolution in Britain and-to a much lesser extent-in Ulster, had a devastating effect on the incomes of the hundreds of thousands of rural and semi-urban spinners, weavers, and other workers who made their living in part from domestic nonagricultural activities.'5 Both are doubtful that protective tariffs could have rescued the situation.6 An alternative view is presented by Johnson and Kennedy. They accept that Ireland experienced a decline in industrial occupations in the pre-Famine period but argue that it may have been due to labour-saving technical change.7 Cullen heavily qualifies the view that deindustrialization